"..He saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men."
Matthew 4:19

"Wherefore, I the Lord ask you this question - Unto what were ye ordained? To preach my gospel by the Spirit, even the Comforter which was sent forth to teach the truth."
-D&C 50:13-14

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Dear Sisters and Elders,

“Do you want to feel the love of God more powerfully in your life? Do you want to have the heavens opened to you daily? Remember that Elder Kikuchi taught us that if we follow a pattern set by the Prophet Joseph Smith when he went to a grove of trees early one morning, we can have the windows-even the gates of heaven opened to us.” Elder Kikuchi Opening the Heavens August Liahona 2009

Elder Kikuchi asked us to:

· Rise from our beds early—a few minutes before 6:30 AM

· Have a drink of water

· Exercise

· Wash , and make ourselves clean

· Dress for the day

· Go to a quiet place inside our apartments.

· Kneel, subdue our spirits before Heavenly Father, and call upon Him. Talk with Him in reverent , mighty prayer.

· Wait for His holy inspiration, pondering the scriptures or a recent general conference talk and think about the specific problems we face.

He promised us that if we did this and immersed ourselves in the scriptures, especially the Book of Mormon, and our studies, we would experience feelings of joy and strength beyond measure. He promised us that if we are obedient to our perfect mornings, our baptisms would double by Christmas. I feel a key part of our perfect mornings is having our own Sacred Grove experience every day.

Elder Kikuchi said that he knew from personal experience the spiritual power that can flow into our lives if we follow this practice. We will feel the love of God and a cleansing, purifying regeneration of our spirits. We will experience moments of revelation, when the Spirit whispers to our spirits what you need to do to be a better father, mother, son, daughter, missionary and a better disciple of Jesus Christ.

I also know that the adversary is not happy with this tremendous progress and faith. He will seek to distract, discourage and make us complacent. He will subtly argue that you can’t keep up this pace, that the weather is too hot and humid to labor all day and into the night. You need revelation and inspiration from your perfect mornings and Sacred Grove experiences to invigorate you. That revelation will not remain with you unless you qualify for it by practicing your perfect mornings every day. You qualify for it by being exactly obedient and having a passion and urgency for the work.

Thank you for continually striving to be exactly obedient to your perfect mornings. Thank you for stretching, both spiritually and physically, to improve your service. Thank you for believing that the days of miracles have not ceased. Thank you for expecting miracles in your own area. Thank you for your depth of commitment. Thank you for the privilege of partaking in this hard, demanding, invigorating and miraculous journey together. With all of my heart I believe in you. I truly do.